Photometrically simply behaving mCP stars

TL;DR

This study examines the light curves of 19 magnetic chemically peculiar stars to identify those with simple photometric behavior, revealing that most have multiple spots despite some fitting a one-spot model.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of photometrically simply behaving mCP stars, highlighting the prevalence of multiple spots and identifying a few stars that fit a single-spot model.

Findings

Most stars have multiple photometric spots.

Only three stars fit a one-spot model.

Light curves are generally symmetric but diverse.

Abstract

We analyzed uvby and Hp light curves of 19 well observed magnetic CP stars selected from the "On-line database of photometric observations of mCP stars" of which light curves in all the five colours were similar. We assumed that among these photometrically simply behaving (PSB) stars could be found such ones which have a single photometric spot. The insight into such simple situations would help us to comprehend more complicated cases. Light curves of the 19 PSB mCP stars proved to be generally nearly symmetric but surprisingly diverse. The analysis shows that only in the case of HD 110956B, HD 188041, and perhaps HD 193722 we are able to explain their photometric behaviour by a simple one-spot model. Consequently, occurrence of more than one photometric spot on an mCP star is typical.